


Her last assignment

by Sherlocked4Life



Series: After the fall (comes winter) [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Post-Reichenbach, Secret Identity, Sherlock Series 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 13:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4481186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherlocked4Life/pseuds/Sherlocked4Life
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Mary sat at the kitchen table leafing through the morning paper. The controversy around the local fraudulent detective’s suicide had finally been pushed from the front pages, and good riddance. Mary was much more interested in the political power plays internationally, and the London-centric coverage recently was starting to try her patience.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>A hot mug of tea was placed unbidden on the table beside her. David was sweet like that: sweet, and domestic, and completely oblivious. He was a bit clingy, but not nearly smart enough to ever even guess at her past, and that was exactly what she needed for her image right now.</i>
</p><p>This is a story to shed some light on what Mary Morstan was doing before her appearance in Season 3 and how it is she came to be involved with John H. Watson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her last assignment

Mary sat at the kitchen table leafing through the morning paper. The controversy around the local fraudulent detective’s suicide had finally been pushed from the front pages, and good riddance. Mary was much more interested in the political power plays internationally, and the London-centric coverage recently was starting to try her patience. 

A hot mug of tea was placed unbidden on the table beside her. David was sweet like that: sweet, and domestic, and completely oblivious. He was a bit clingy, but not nearly smart enough to ever even guess at her past, and that was exactly what she needed for her image right now.

This was the last environment her former associates would expect her to be in, and so here she was. No, David wasn’t exciting, nor clever, nor even that much of a looker, but he was excellent cover and he didn’t make a half bad cup of tea.

“Aww, thanks, love!” she said, folding over the corner of her newspaper and looking up at her little slice of domesticity. He leaned down for a kiss and she tilted her head up to meet him, quick and chaste, then she went back to skimming for incidents that might hint at a need to reinvent herself again across the world.

David sat down across from her at the table, glancing over the headlines on the front page that she held facing him.

“Looks like the press has finally stopped obsessing over that story on the jumper at that hospital,” he interjected into her internal dissection of an article on unrest in the Baltic States. She could almost feel the fingerprints of a less favorable ex-colleague of hers on this one, but David wanted to do ‘chitchat’ today and this persona she’d built demanded an equally inane response.

“Yeah, finally,” she said with enthusiasm, but her thoughts were only peripherally engaged on the trivial humoring she was compelled to maintain with David. “There’s only so much blood you can squeeze out of a man once he’s dead.”

That came out far too callous for the ‘Mary’ she had created, and David cringed at the gruesome imagery (gruesome for his sensibilities, that is). Clearly, even two years in she was still not in this deep enough to rely on instincts to take up the sweet, home loving caregiver role. Good to know, now time to backpedal.

“Ack, sorry! Not sure where that came from. Too morbid for this time in the morning, anyway.” She gave David her most disarming smile, wrinkling up her nose slightly to add to the cuteness factor. David beamed back, the smitten darling that he was, and started in on his plate of toast.

Mary’s phone chimed, which was surprising since the only person who texted her with any regularity was seated across from her at the table.

“I think you’ve got a text, sweetheart,” David said, not able to keep the tinge of jealousy and suspicion out of his voice.

“Well they can wait until I’ve finished this wonderful cup of tea,” Mary countered with a smile, nipping that little pout session in the bud. She sipped her tea and continued reading.

A second chime.

Mary’s eyes couldn’t help but flit to her phone momentarily. This was strange, but nothing to be alarmed by. Probably spam.

A third chime, and David was clearly starting to get on edge over it. Mary took a long pull from her mug and then picked up the phone to see what this could possibly be. David was trying to hide the fact that he was now leaning over the table slightly in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the sender’s message.

Blocked (12:42): **A.G.R.A.** Foundation will **not** rest. You, **Mary,** can help!  
Blocked (12:44): **We** know you **can** help to **end** poverty for **this** country’s children.  
Blocked (12:45): **Will** collect by **phone** to start **at** a minimum **13,00** pound donation.

The first four letters of the text froze her blood. The foundation name matched her initials; her _real_ initials. _That_ was dangerous. It took two beats before the pattern materialized, and with it so did the voice in her head screaming ‘RUN!’ A skip code could mean only one thing: her cover was blown and she needed extraction immediately. She still had a few contacts remaining from her freelancing phase; she could be in Romania by tonight with all new documents. 

David had moved around the table to look, his insecurity over this mystery texter getting the better of him. “Oh, that’s just spam,” he said dismissing it now as unimportant, showing just how wrong he could possibly be. “I get that stuff all the time. You can block the user, or just delete it.”

In truth, she didn’t hear a word he said, not that it made a difference now. She had 15 minutes. That wasn’t much, but she could work with it, only she needed David out of the flat.

“Hey, Love?” She looked up at where David was standing behind her and gave him the puppy eyes he could never resist, “I’m not feeling very well. Could you pop down to the chemist’s and get me something for my stomach?”

“Yeah, ‘course. I didn’t know.” David set down his half-empty mug of tea and went to fetch his coat and keys.

“I’m just going to have a lie down for a bit,” Mary called as she made her way to her bedroom. It was lucky they had stayed at hers the night before, meaning her primary bug-out bag was in reach. She had a smaller bug-out bag with just the bare essentials in the bolthole she had set up near David’s place, but if this contact knew her full name there was a good chance her boltholes in this country were no longer secure.

“Be back in a bit,” she heard David call as the door opened and shut behind him.

The moment the door clicked shut it was like a light switch had been flipped and ‘Mary’ was gone. 12:56 – she’d take the call from the roof, keep the higher ground, and be down the back escape the instant it ended.

Mary pulled her bag from the hidden compartment in her wardrobe, stripped off her comfortable Saturday lie-in clothes and pulled on the stretch athletic wear from the top of the bag. She slipped on her black trainers, then pulled out her trusty SIG Sauer P230, attached the suppressor, locked in a full clip and placed a round in the chamber, just in case. 

Bag over her shoulder and gun in hand, she was through the window and up the escape ladder to the roof with 1 minute to spare. The moment her trainers hit the rooftop her phone rang.

“You’re early,” the assassin picked up nonchalantly. She scanned the windows around her to see if she could pinpoint where the sniper was. Someone must be watching her to know her movements so precisely.

“Off so soon?” Purred the velvety voice on the other end, “You and he have been doing so well over the past 2 years. Would you leave him so easily?”

“He was convenient, now he’s not.” Mary answered offhand, all of her focus on her task. She could probably spare another 30 seconds before she was going to need to disappear from sight, but she still couldn’t find the direction of the caller’s line of sight, which made the viability of any escape route a toss up.

“How heartless of you, my dear,” the man on the other end was clearly smirking, and Mary had the distinct impression that she was being toyed with. “You needn’t worry about the windows. That is not how I intend to end this, if that’s what you think.”

This had now reached the level of “unsettling” and Mary had had quite enough of the verbal foreplay.

“How are we to _end this_ then, as you so cryptically put it?” Mary continued her scan, this time for any kind of surveillance device. “I can tell you that this will not end with me in your custody. Believe me when I say that there is nothing in this world I would not do to prevent that from happening.”

“I presumed as much, thank you.” He paused and she heard him take a deep breath on the other side of the line. “I have need of your assistance in a… personal matter, for which I would be willing to ensure that you were no longer on our radar.”

Now he had her attention, complete and undivided.

“ _Our_?” There were a number of organizations that could fall within this scope, but she had a feeling she already knew with whom she was speaking.

“Yes,” was all the answer she received, and all she needed. The British government, then.

“And you have the authority to grant that for aiding you in a… _personal matter_?” One final check, but if this was the man she believed it to be then she had been in far more danger than she had initially thought. 

“Obviously.”

Her lips pulled into a thin line of resignation. She had hoped to have put that phase of her life behind her, but they both knew now that she had no other option than to take whatever he was offering if she wanted out of this alive.

“Go on then.” Her training kept her voice steady even as the bottom dropped out from under her and her neck and chest went cold. The more information she could get on her target now, the faster she could get it over with.

“There is a man of some importance to me who has recently lost a person quite dear to him.” The voice sounded quieter now, resigned. “He is in need of a companion.”

“You must be joking,” Mary couldn’t help but laugh. A _companion_? This was definitely not within her general purview.

“I assure you, nothing about this is funny.” The man’s voice was now hard and cold with affected boredom.

Unfortunately, Mary had to agree. The absurdity of her being offered immunity from extradition for keeping someone company wasn’t funny so much as it was distasteful.

“So you expect me to buy my life with my freedom?” She asked incredulously. “Become a kept woman for this friend of yours just because you asked nicely? Not a chance.” 

There was a moment’s pause on the other line and Mary held her breath. If a shot were coming, it would come now. The moment passed.

“You misunderstand my offer,” the man said, exhaustion creeping into his voice at the tediousness of having to explain himself. “I require this person to remain alive until an associate is sent for him, nothing more. Rest assured, you will know when your services are no longer required, and should you be successful in this you will be free to live out your domestic charade on our shores unmolested for as long as you can stand it.” His distain in even voicing her choice was clear, but his dry disgust turned dangerous as he continued, “Should you fail…”

“…we’ll be right back to where we find ourselves currently, I suspect,” Mary finished for him, though it was unnecessary. She had drifted to the edge of the roof facing the street so she had ample warning of David’s return. Although it was a relief to know she would not need to reinvent herself that evening, she had a new road to navigate now, one that was not nearly as easy, if she was being honest. “So who is it I will be protecting this man of interest from anyway?”

“Himself.”

If she thought the road ahead had been unfamiliar before… “Oh, god… really? I’m an assassin, not a nurse!”

“Then become one. He’s a doctor, after all. It would suit.” There was a pause to emphasize the finality of her new lot. “You will find the dossier for this final _assignment_ on an encrypted USB. It will be arriving momentarily, complements of… David, is it?” She could practically hear his eyebrow arch in judgment before he continued. “You’ll find it inside the chemist’s bag. I’ve also taken the liberty of including a copy of your CV, should you ever want to reminisce.”

Mary smirked, almost certainly mirroring the expression she could hear through the line. She could just see David coming down the street now. Time to return.

“I’ll be in touch then?” Mary’s voice was casual as she headed back to descend the fire escape; they were allies now, of a sort, no reason not to be civil.

“No.”

The line rang off.

Mary pocketed the mobile as she slipped back in through the window. She was back in her dressing gown with her bag of supplies tucked back into the security of the hidden closet compartment before she heard the key turn in the latch.

As she settled into bed with her laptop David popped his head in, holding the bag of medicine aloft in triumph along with a bottle of water. Mary’s smile was only half forced, the fact that he was delivering to her the almost certain end to their relationship brought an unexpected surge of giddiness. She had to admit it: she had missed the thrill of a new target. As long as she couched it in those terms, she could do this.

“Thanks.” She took the bag and water placed it unopened on her nightstand, turning back to her computer. Hopefully he would take the hint.

David shifted his weight, looking unsure of what to do with himself now. “I’m just going to head out then, unless there’s anything else you need…?”

“Nope. You’re the best,” Mary beamed at him, accepting the kiss on her forehead and then listening intently for the snick of the lock behind him before digging the USB out from the bag. Her initials printed neatly on the side, she plugged it into her computer without a second thought and opened the first folder, settling in.

“John Hamish Watson…” she murmured to herself as she scanned the file, a smile slowly growing the more she read. “I like him.”

**Author's Note:**

> This second story in the series is not in the same vein as the others, but I felt it had to be told. It's an indirect continuation of Mycroft's story ("When all we have is silence"), as hinted at the end when he talks of plans for John's safety. 
> 
> I'll be writing more stories specifically showing the characters in the 24 hours after Sherlock's fall, more in line with the first story in this series. I will add those to this series as well.
> 
>  **Clarifications:**  
>  \- "David" is Mary's ex-boyfriend that we meet in "The Sign of Three" who Sherlock downgrades to a casual acquaintance before the wedding.  
> \- The skip code is shown in bold, and it is the same pattern that Mary identifies in "The Empty Hearse" of every third word. It reads, "A.G.R.A. not Mary. We can end this. Will phone at 13:00." (meaning 1 PM).  
> \- The man Mary is speaking to is Mycroft (although obvious in my mind, I can never be sure).  
> \- The encrypted USB at the end with her assignment is the same USB she gives to John in "His Last Vow."
> 
>  **Implications for the series if this were cannon:**  
>  \- One of the reasons the USB Mary gives John would be so damning for him to read it is that it includes the details of her assignment to be John's companion, thus invalidating their relationship in his eyes - one that has become very real to her over their time together.  
> \- I posit through this that the reason Mary is so shocked at Sherlock's arrival at the beginning of "The Empty Hearse" is not because he should be dead, but because she realizes that she is being relieved of her responsibilities to John and she had rather hoped that would never be the case.  
> \- I like to think that Mycroft's involvement in arranging her eventual engagement to John is the reason he was invited to the wedding and equally why Mycroft felt the couple would be delighted he didn't attend - the whole thing being a bit of an inside joke between the two.


End file.
